You can say almost anything about Canadian history if you put John A. Macdonald in the story:
"If John A. Macdonald . . . can build a railroad from one end of our country to the other in four and a half years, why can't we build the pipeline even quicker with the technology we have?"
-- Doug Ford, promoting the Northern Shield cross-Canada pipeline proposal, September 30, 2026.
We'll see how long that pipeline takes, if it ever starts. But the railroad took almost fifteen years from the first commitment in 1871, and much of the preparatory work was done by the government of Alexander Mackenzie.
"Province House in Charlottetown, where ... in 1864, Sir John A. Macdonald gathered delegates in the Confederation Chamber and began the negotiations to create Canada."
-- Steve Paikin visiting Prince Edward Island, September 30, 2026.
But Macdonald did not "gather" anyone at Charlottetown, nor chair any part of the conference. He was one of twelve members of the Province of Canada delegation. It was invited by the Prince Edward Island government to meet three other provincial delegations. He spent much of his speaking time there advocating legislative union rather than federation. He wasn't a knight then, either.
